What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[gbaplayer]

Babel for the PC Engine.

its the 33rd (j)rpg on that system, that i will complete.

last week i finished Dragon Knight I & Graffiti. it is a totally awesome game.

[Ed Oscuro]

LOL, finally got to play a bit of Separate Ways from the PS2 version of RE4

Unholy mash-up of RE4 locales with desperate looting and ill-fitting music. But now you can have big fights in all the places you never cared to before! (i.e. the tunnels by the locked house, inside the church, on the elevated planks over the lake, etc.) So far I have done one Ada-like thing, using a grappling hook to get on top of a house in the village. The rest has been pretty much standard fare; Ada controls pretty much just like Leon, probably taken from her appearance in The Mercenaries.

Occasionally there is an attempt to set up some puzzle so you think "oh that's why that was that way" but the illusion is destroyed from the start. They play Leon's cutscenes for that first big fight in the Village, and you even see him running by at one point. But you can enter and exit all the buildings with ease - even the ones he's supposed to be in - and loot everything but the shotgun, all while some goofy new music plays. Island drums loop mix!

Also, for some reason they've decided that while you can buy stuff and upgrade your carrying case, you can't actually upgrade the weapons that I've seen. You get weapons that are partially upgraded to something usable (hopefully), but then they've got this apparently permanent shtick that the merchants haven't set up shop yet, so the tune-up menu is locked. Blue torches are magic! But the merchants stand around watching Ada read random books, instead of getting ready...I found that just as odd as anything else.

If there was really going to be a reasonable Ada game it would no doubt involve lots of running across rooftops like a ninja, not going places a few minutes before Leon gets there. I find the whole production kind of disrespectful to the original work. Honestly, I would just as soon they didn't bother making this. The little report she gives about dog whistles and sonic staves is just hurting my brain. Why did they have to go and try to take the mystery out of it, especially when it's this incompetently done?

Pretty standard blasting fare otherwise. I'll have to see more of it to see what I think. I can tell it's gonna be pretty short already, though.

[BIL]

Finally cleared The Ninja Warriors Again on Hard as the Ninja today, a couple times with one of the (shaky, tentative) runs recorded. I don't know if I'm missing something (haven't watched any 1CC vids yet) or if Ninja is just inherently weak / a "challenge" character, but I'm exhausted... this was a good bit tougher than Kunoichi and Kamaitachi's clears. The AI's brilliant zoning+backstabbing behaviours really stand out when you can't jump and need to have either a grappled foe or a full meter to knock down enemies at a distance.

He is an utterly badass character, though. I particularly like how his footsteps audibly thump and kick up dust. Wouldn't be a very effective Ninja but he's an impressive skull-crushing android killing machine. Maybe that was Natsume's point... I'm sure it's possible to stomp all over the areas where I currently stand with my back to the wall punching repeatedly. I know how to set up an atomic drop chain by ensuring there's an enemy sprite overlaying Ninja's as soon as the move completes, but I didn't want to try it out and blow either run. Still lots to figure out here.

[Ed Oscuro]

Your Resident Evil 4 - Separate Ways Moment of Zen: Remember how Leon disturbed a male villager at a urinal at the big house? Well, because Ada is a woman, and walking in on a man peeing would be really odd, the villager is now female also! Ada's only comment on the matter is that the villagers have no concept of sanitation. But it's still a urinal. It calls to mind Leon's comment from earlier in the game: "Guess there's no sex discrimination here." Even, apparently, so far as matters of basic human functioning go. I guess this one's a freebie to stop people wondering how Ada lands jumps as far as Leon's while wearing high heels.

In other news I think that interlaced games give me headaches, bah

Played a little bit of Quake: Sad Headphones Because I Busted My Other Pair and Had To Call in Reserves edition. I have to take back what I said before...there are some parts

Some really obvious sequence breaking here. I think that Darkplaces might be fudging the jump distances because in the very fun E1M6 (The Door to Cthon) you can jump straight across to the gold key. I used this and a quad damage found a bit earlier to take out a shambler with great ease.

Played a bit of E2M2 and had some more fun running around with the quad. Man, it's too bad quad damages tend to just be hidden instead of being more accessible so that they could be factored into the level flow better. They really help shake things up from being very staid shoot-and-dodge affairs to frantic gunning sprees, looking to double SG gib as many baddies as possible.

[EmperorIng]

Ninja definitely looks the coolest to play, stomping around and tackling thugs with his almost-one-ton body.

I'm playing the original Ninja Warriors on MAME, after seeing a particularly skilled 1CC that convinced me that there was more to this game than met the eye. Loving the secrets in the game, the way different enemies spawn depending on where you are in the playing field. I really love the game's gritty atmosphere - though Taito games always excelled in the atmosphere department.

[Ed Oscuro]

Oh, in regards to PS2 RE4 slowdown: I really didn't notice slowdown through the normal campaign, though there may have been a little at some moments. However, Separate Ways has already (in the first chapter alone) served up at least one notable instance of slowdown, when a large crowd of villagers rushed towards the bottleneck at the graveyard / church's south entrance. "Yeaaaaaah!"

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

I rented Remember Me. I like it pretty well. The memory edits are an interesting idea with all the different possible outcomes. The environments look great. Controls are kinda stiff. Not too crazy about the Tomb Raider style climbing. The climbing doesn't really require much thought because it has icons that show exactly where to go and it's very linear. Combat is ok. Combat in Remember Me is like a more advanced version of what was in Batman Arkham games since the combo is supposed to be picked up where it was left off after dodging and doesn't just link into anything. The voice acting is actually alright which was very surprising. The soundtrack is actually there and is pretty cool. The composer put in this skip effect on the tracks which suits the game well. If you drop your combo the music falls out also which I thought was a nice touch.

Despite the negatives it's holding my attention well. I don't know if I like it well enough to buy at full price, but I definitely want to see it through. I would't say it's gameplay is anywhere near something like Bayonetta or Metal Gear Rising. But it certainly has a more thoughtfull presentation which does aid it.

[7711]

I only have a portion of my games at the moment so I decided to give another chance to Second Sight on the PS2.
Mindblowing game, I can't get enough of it.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I remember Second Sight and Psi-Ops for PC came out at the same time. Now I feel like revisiting some multiplatform games from those days when PC versions wouldn't always look better in high resolutions, but at least tended to work flawlessly. The times of PS2 vs PC clash were over (those lame conversions: Onimusha, MGS2, GTAIII).
Now I think Vice City was about the first substantially enhanced port (and with Silent Hill 2, Konami at least tried harder than Success with MGS2).
Then the gash DMC3, RE4 and Onimusha 3 PC ports brought back the bad, but much better (for PC gamers anyway) multiplatform development of 360 era was just around the corner.

[BIL]

I'm playing the original Ninja Warriors on MAME, after seeing a particularly skilled 1CC that convinced me that there was more to this game than met the eye. Loving the secrets in the game, the way different enemies spawn depending on where you are in the playing field. I really love the game's gritty atmosphere - though Taito games always excelled in the atmosphere department.

It must be said - as good a job as Natsume did translating the AC version's bloody, bullet-pocked aesthetic to a somewhat more colourful OutRun-toned game, nothing beats the classic Taito eccentricity of the original.

SFC: The development of androids progressed, and these powerful weapons of Mulk's new government became far stronger than Banglar's forces. The people seeing this said, "History repeats itself."

Sombre, pensive!

AC: BUT PEACE DID NOT COME, BECAUSE THE NINJA WARRIORS ARE THE IMMORTAL MURDER-MACHINES.

Aieee!

[Ed Oscuro]

All rise for THE IMMORTAL MURDER MACHINES!

"But sir, I've got kunoichi's skull right here."
" "

Then the gash DMC3, RE4 and Onimusha 3 PC ports brought back the bad, but much better (for PC gamers anyway) multiplatform development of 360 era was just around the corner.

Did anybody care about Lost Planet? LOL. (Still want to play the various entries in that series some time, but you rarely ever hear about them.) Lost Planet appeared on PC just a month after RE4.

[BIL]

Speaking of the ol' Japanese murder machinery, tonight was the night I booted MD Aladdin the FO of my Really Useful MD Box. $tore cr£dit! After a solid week of TNWA, it was shamefully more apparent than ever that Dave Perry's game plays slacker than a wizard's fanny. Disgusted, I fired up The Superb Shinobi and commenced the stabbing.



In the next frame, the swordsman on the left exploded in a ball of flame after Musashi's downstroke shattered his blade, severed his femoral artery and sliced off his bellend in one mortal blow.

Now that's the stuff. No fuzzy hit detection bullshit. One swordsman stands, the other explodes in a ball of flame.

[Rob]

it was shamefully more apparent than ever that Dave Perry's game plays slacker than a wizard's fanny. Disgusted,

Had me worried a bit with the not entirely negative Aladdin talk. Glad that's over.

[BIL]

Sad case, that game. Concentrates on precisely the thing it does the worst. Reverse the ratio of Inside The Lamp's atmospheric, combat-free gymnastics to everything else and you'd have a fun cartoon platformer with only the occasional shitty action.

[Ed Oscuro]

RE4 - Separate Ways still doesn't exactly impress with its clumsy attempt to fit between the events of RE4 and make the mysterious a simple matter of "ADA GOT KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT BUT THEN SHE GOT BETTER AND TURNED THE MACHINE ON," however I do like some of the combat and some of the vantage points you get to with the grappling hook are pretty neat. One example is the rope bridge high above the approach to the house where Leon gets captured - you can get up there (the first time through; prompts work repeatedly when you're in an area but many of them disappear after you've been in a place and gotten whatever was up there). Nothing special but hopefully they will use one or two of these to actually build some bits of level I haven't seen before...really unlikely considering the PS2 already struggles with RE4, but it's interesting to see what might be bits of RE4 that got cut the first time around, and at the least I do like the feeling of being up high and having new vantage points. So it's a mix of half an hour of "this is really atrocious" with half a minute stretches of "that's pretty cool."

Contra SS: Got my A rank (92%, 90% after a death, and I just found a few more things to shoot in the level that I didn't know about before), then got smashed to pieces at the opening of the second stage (as usual). Argh.

The last three levels of Quake's second episode have a lot of simple tricks - jumping to get places you're not supposed to go (that map that has the non-secret hidden room - a screenshot of the level's end is on the game box - has an area like this, where you can run up the incline on the other side of the room from the steel smasher) and the like (The Wizard's Manse has a few obvious spots like this). I seem to be doing better and getting through the game with relative ease, and there's ample health and armor to deal with. I think a lot of it is just quicker footwork than before - not standing stock still while Ogres launch grenades into my face! I've gotten through some hairy situations unscathed simply by doing this, took me long enough to figure out, sheesh. Two Ogres in a tight hallway is still a difficult situation unless I have ample super nailgun ammo (I'm saving the thunderbolt ammo, as always, and really only used it once in the second episode...feels like cheatin'!)

Onto the third episode. Man, another base level I really like - Termination Central. Gotta love wondering where that last enemy is, and it's just a grunt on a walkway on top of the building. Always liked that spot. But then onto a bunch of levels I never used to care for - the dark and tomb-like areas, at least three in a row. Turns out they're more interesting to play than I had remembered, but not too tough. Vaults of Zin must be one of the early levels made, what with the "Enter the runegate to exit the level" message at the end. I don't recall seeing that at the end of E2M1. Vaults of Zin also has (have?) rather simple architecture. For the most part I think the stripped-down architecture works well, so I don't mind that iD didn't have time to pretty up the levels with decoration. However, you also get the feeling that some areas would have been tweaked and made more successful than they are here, although I really don't have too many complaints.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

I have recently been playing Sonic the Hedgehog 1 (Genesis and Game Gear), 2 (Genesis and Game Gear), 3, Sonic Triple Trouble, and Sonic and Knuckles. I managed to clear most of them except 2, where I can't seem to beat the final boss. If I actually tried, I think I could 1CC these games, maybe even do a one-life playthrough. These are awesome games, I always found the classic Sonic games better than the more modern ones. The music for these games is awesome, and I noticed several similarities to other songs. They are as follows:

In Sonic 1 for Game Gear, the music for Bridge Zone resembles Tails' theme from Sonic Adventure and the theme for Full House.
Bridge Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYJkol00JCE
Sonic Adventure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxW8LzAunrI
Full House: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx3Zo9t7c8Q

In Sonic 1 for Genesis, Green Hill Zone's music sounds like Silver the Hedgehog's theme, "Dreams of an Absolution" from Sonic the Hedgehog '06, which sounds like Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You"
Sonic 1 Green Hill Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ0IaeXa7VA
Sonic '06: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zvjYLAzJb8
Music Sounds Better With You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUC2b-OSZ00

In Sonic 1 for Genesis, Scrap Brain Zone's music resembles the ending theme for Blade Runner, but sped up.
Scrap Brain Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoVY7nvcel0
Blade Runner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb092WwMMaU

In Sonic 1 for Genesis, Spring Yard Zone's music sounds like Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step."
Spring Yard Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDd_GlynA6A
Every Little Step: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0FKzPfsxA4

In Sonic 1 for Genesis, Marble Zone sounds like Andy Williams's "Music to Watch Girls By"
Marble Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDUvUASHkDg
Music to Watch Girls By: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2BscyYsXBo
Instrumental: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auS-ndWXLso

In Sonic 2 for Game Gear, the boss theme sounds like "808 State" by Cubik.
Sonic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTkrus3xhSc
808 State: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxoFUiihvr0

In Sonic 2 for Genesis, Metropolis Zone's music sounds like Van Halen's "Jump."
Sonic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRuJfhEeCe8
Jump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7q_12tYZdA

In Sonic Triple Trouble for Game Gear, Sunset Park Act 3 sounds like the beginning of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train."
Sunset Park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dot0iGpUL5I
Crazy Train: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MLp7YNTznE

In Sonic and Knuckles, the Major Boss Theme music sounds like Level 7 from Raiden II.
Sonic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B93QQvL0CGQ
Raiden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2W2LAFlkOE

in Sonic and Knuckles, the Minor Boss Theme music sounds like Level 2, "Can't Retrace" from Raiden IV
Sonic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDr0oy2Tnr8
Raiden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ZCBgCnOJ8

I'm sure most of you have heard of the connection between Michael Jackson and Sonic 3's music, but for those who haven't, watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbVM-l2Oku4, and check out the similarities I posted below.

Hydrocity Zone's music sounds like Mike Mareen's "Heavy Water"
Hydrocity Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K1rV9kFs6I
Heavy Water: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5-Ql46KoD4

Ice Cap Zone's music sounds like Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" and "Who is It"
Ice Cap Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYxlqTpZ-24
Smooth Criminal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFvENQBc-F8
Who is It: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENC5MEzrRp8

The ending theme sounds like Michael Jackson's "Stranger in Moscow"
Sonic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55rtX4wCJPM
Stranger in Moscow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEEMi2j6lYE

Marble Garden Zone's music sounds like Michael Jackson's "Thriller"
Marble Garden Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qw10LYqye4
Thriller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA

Launch Base Zone's music sounds like Michael Jackson's "Bad"
Launch Base Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZH1o8N9PXU
Bad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsUXAEzaC3Q

[BrianC]

Aside from the boss music in Sonic 2 SMS, the SMS Sonics have the same music as the GG versions. The JP "Toot Toot Sonic Warrior" intro theme for Sega CD is very similar to the Green Hills Zone in Sonic 2 GG/SMS.

Sonic CD intro
Green Hills Sonic 2 SMS

[null1024]

Aside from the boss music in Sonic 2 SMS, the SMS Sonics have the same music as the GG versions. The JP "Toot Toot Sonic Warrior" intro theme for Sega CD is very similar to the Green Hills Zone in Sonic 2 GG/SMS.

Sonic CD intro
Green Hills Sonic 2 SMS

Well, there's a fair few songs in Sonic Chaos that are different between the GG and SMS versions [the SMS music is better in general] -- totally different Gigopolis Zone music on GG and an altered Aqua Planet song [a handful of notes are changed] are the two that I remember being different..

[KAI]

Playing the max tour on Ridge Racers 2 (PSP). I fucking love this game.

[BrianC]

Aside from the boss music in Sonic 2 SMS, the SMS Sonics have the same music as the GG versions. The JP "Toot Toot Sonic Warrior" intro theme for Sega CD is very similar to the Green Hills Zone in Sonic 2 GG/SMS.

Sonic CD intro
Green Hills Sonic 2 SMS

Well, there's a fair few songs in Sonic Chaos that are different between the GG and SMS versions [the SMS music is better in general] -- totally different Gigopolis Zone music on GG and an altered Aqua Planet song [a handful of notes are changed] are the two that I remember being different..

Thanks for the info. I didn't see enough of the SMS Sonic Chaos to realize the music was different in places in that too.

[Marc]

Tokyo Jungle, but it's not what I thought it would be. I was expecting something I could mess around with for half and hour here and there, but due to the stupid lack of a save function it actually requires quite a chunk of time to get anywhere. Shame, is the game is quirky fun.

[shmuppyLove]

Going to be marathoning all three Mass Effect games, for poops n chuckles.

[R79]

Sonic CD, going cheap on 360!

[Obiwanshinobi]

Kuru Kuru Kururin - just like (Super) Monkey Ball, Kururin series might have peaked on GameCube, but their GBA versions make for some fun times on the go.

[BIL]

Hmm, didn't know there even was a Kururin game on the GC. Thanks Obi, will check that out.

[Obiwanshinobi]

To be honest, I have yet to play Kururin Squash!, but on paper it seems like a good one (even if it's not a race against the clock anymore). I like the first one's purity as a time attacking game, though. Would like to try out multiplayer one of these days (possible with just one cart).
By the way, how many shmups are strictly about playing for speed? Even typical Caravans don't seem to be quite about it. Only Warning Forever and the boss rush mode of Sonic Wings Special come to mind at the moment. I'd like to play more shmups like a racer if it makes any sense.

[Ed Oscuro]

Fast Shmups -> Earth Joker, Kingdom Grandprix, Armed Police Gallop.

Hilarious X-Men: Ravages of Apocalypse blooper:

Enter the hidden stage "Delphi Defiled." See barred door in front of you. The bar is on your side but you can't remove it (???). Walk up to it and see the following message: "Locked. Find the switch." Jump on the bar. The door opens and the message appears again: "Locked. Find the switch." I THINK I JUST DID!


(edit: Slightly less epic now that I realize you can just jump on the bar instead of needing to use the bar's holders as a ledge...which makes this even sillier.)

[Mortificator]

Have you shot many The Wolverines to death yet???

[Ed Oscuro]

XMEN XMEN, EVIL MUTANTS LED BY MAGNETO..."you're all sick people, you know that?!"

Wolverines annoy me because they're one of the few types that don't crisp up (and therefore don't shatter and disappear from the map). It's annoying to get through a level and find out the XMEN CLONES count is at 175/44 or something insane, due to the regeneration - and that's an attempt I made using the AMMO cheat repeatedly to give myself lots of flame fuel! I haven't bothered playing the game "the right way" past the first level or two because it's basically an ugly and clumsy attempt at DOOM Nightmare, which itself has a problem BIL mentioned a while ago; you stop caring about the gameplay and just have to rush through. I'm not even playing on the game's Nightmare setting - couldn't figure out how to open up the bars to enter that mode, and nobody online seems to know about it.

The weapons are somewhere between awesome and horrible. Awesome because you can melt the iceman and burn most everybody else into a defenseless zombie ready to be destroyed by allies - terrible because of some weapons being utterly useless and others using up a huge stock of ammo in no time flat. The split homing rocket launcher seems best for most enemies, but it takes more than an entire stock of flame fuel to inflict full-thickness burns, and seemingly a lot more to melt the ice guy (?!). That doesn't make sense given that you're also being asked to stay in really close quarters to use the flamethrower - which is the reason it's Contra: Shattered Soldiers' most powerful weapon. Quake had a nice balance between giving some enemies a slight resistance to some weapons, that you could obey if you felt like it, and giving you enough flexibility that you can pretty much defeat anything with whatever the situation requires you throw at it. Ammo conservation in Quake means pretty much "am I using too many rockets/do I have a nice reserve of nails?" Ravages of Apocalypse chucks that rubric out the window and throws its clothes, bed, and bowling trophies after it. Instead you get not enough ammo, weird immunities, and some weapons appear randomly useless against most things. Gotta love unexpectedly pulling out that big charge bomb thing...why do the more damaging weapons randomly appear like fuzzy bunnies?

If I had some patience I might try to figure out exactly which peg fits into which hole (which weapon efficiently destroys which X-MEN), but it seems like you're supposed to fight each enemy in just one way, or else you waste your ammo.

Super-slow weapon switch animation! At least it looks awesome.

I'm starting to notice, more than before, that levels are a mix of really terrible connected box designs with some attempts to add little details to make them look realistic. There will be a big pool of lava with some giant triangular shards piled nearby, but on a brick wall there are some realistically-proportioned thin pipes running along - like somebody used thick crayon lines to sketch a landscape and then glued a little cutout of JFK waving on the front step. Big boxes with little boxes peppered throughout to represent walkways, strange mechanical things, and stairs. It makes you really appreciate how good something like Quake, or even Hexen II, is by comparison. This is like something I would have made back then when it was too hard to sketch out anything but very basic boxes and then cut holes in the sides so you could connect them, let alone create Quake-style architectural detail.

Interesting soundtrack: Roughly half terrible ambient tracks, half that '90s sound of some guy from some band (unknown Industrial group "Method of the W.O.R.M.") growl/moaning some random phrases about sad things. Actually somewhat interesting to listen to in a few tracks. Maybe it's just my sad headphones. The track that plays in the mansion is kind of interesting, and kind of terrible.

X-Men: Ravages of Apocalypse: Apocalypse Is a Person, Therefore Our Title's Grammatical. Kind of Interesting, Kind of Terrible.

And I think the guy in the music complaining about the stick people must've read the developer pitch. "Our idea to honor the X-MEN franchise is to make them weak and kill them repeatedly in possibly horrible or hilarious ways, and also you play as a minion of Magneto, because he's a good guy." Christopher Nolan must've seen this and the funny-looking aborigine at the end of levels and immediately realized that it needed Nicola Tesla and more pools of water.

[sjewkestheloon]

Picked up Guardian Heroes HD for the stupid price of 160 msp, so been playing that a little bit. I don't think it's the second coming, and it isn't as tight as Astro Boy, but there is real Treasure quality to it.

Also been burning through the Zero Escape visual novels. I played 999 from the beginning to true end after having started Virtue's Last Reward and realising that I was probably going to miss out by playing them in the wrong order. Now I have finished 5 endings. Brilliant fun, left field plot twists and good quality puzzle sequences really make these worth checking out.